420 World Championship at Fremantle Sailing Club Day 3
by Bernie Kaaks 1 Jan 2018 00:54 AEDT
29 December 2017 - 3 January 2018
The weather forecasters' predictions were perfect today. A south to south westerly breeze kicked in during the morning and steadily escalated to a steady 22 knots with gusts around 25 knots over the course off Fremantle this afternoon. Seas were moderate. Although the waves were not as brutal as they were two days ago, they still required careful handling by crews and there were many capsizes for those who got it wrong.
Revelling in the conditions on their regular training track, Australian champions Chris Charlwood and Josh Dawson were strong on the course today scoring a fourth and a first from the two races, ensuring that they now hold a clear but narrow lead over the Spanish pair Carlos Balaguer and Antoni Massanet. Italians Edouardo Ferraro and Francesco Orlando lie third on the points table at the half way mark of the regatta.
Germany's Florian and Maximilian Buscher handled the heavy going consistently today with placings of third and fifth, to retain their spot at the head of the points table. Spain's Pol and Alex Marsans seemed quite at home to win the first race and place second in the other. The Greek crew of Konstantinos Vardalis and Panagiotis Matsades were a little over eager in their start to the final race and earned themselves a U Flag disqualification, the only blemish in what were generally very good starts for all fleets.
The confident crews are starting to become more comfortable in the fresh conditions at Fremantle. British crew Charlie Bacon: "We were fast and had good boat speed. We were keeping it upright which is good."
His skipper Jack Lewis chimed in: "Our upwind speed was good and we had a lot of height."
Charlie again: "We probably prefer the windier conditions now. It was like this on day one and we struggled a bit but now we have gotten used to it."
With the regatta now at the half way mark, their comments might be an ominous warning to some of the crews ahead of them, since they are now in sixth place on the leader board, despite scoring a 17th and a 14th on the first day.
The Japanese crew of Narumi Kobayashi and Minami Kurose suffered a heavy knockdown soon after setting their spinnaker for the first downwind leg during the first race. They were in the water for a long time before being assisted and took no part in the second race. It was clear today that sailors who had not experienced sailing in ocean conditions such as today were competing at the limits of their capability. Struggling valiantly, a few were forced to retire after capsizing and no doubt will emerge from this championship vastly better equipped to sail in heavy conditions and big waves.
Measurers have been kept busy today too, measuring replacement sails (particularly spinnakers) for those torn beyond repair.
Conditions for tomorrow are forecast to be lighter again.
For full results see 2017worlds.420sailing.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall